1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus for picking up a still image or a moving image, a control method adapted for the image pickup apparatus, and a computer program product supplying a control program adapted for the image pickup apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, there has been known an image pickup apparatus, such as an electronic camera, which picks up an object image to obtain a picked-up image, such as a still image or a moving image, and stores or reproduces the picked-up image. Such an image pickup apparatus is provided with a display part, such as an electronic viewfinder, composed of a color liquid crystal panel or the like, and is arranged to allow a recording medium, such as a memory card having a solid-state memory element, to be detachably attached thereto. Then, the image pickup apparatus is able to store a picked-up image in the recording medium, and is also able to reproduce and display the stored picked-up image at the display part immediately after an image pickup operation for the picked-up image, thereby making it possible for the user to swiftly confirm the picked-up image as reproduced.
However, the above-mentioned conventional image pickup apparatus is arranged such that, in a case where a picked-up image is to be reproduced and displayed immediately after an image pickup operation for the picked-up image, the picked-up image is reproduced and displayed for a predetermined period of time automatically after the image pickup operation, or the picked-up image is reproduced and displayed for a period of time during which a release switch continues being depressed. Therefore, the state of displaying the picked-up image is not kept for a desired period of time, so that, in some cases, it is impossible to sufficiently confirm the content of the displayed picked-up image. Accordingly, in order to confirm the displayed picked-up image in detail, it is necessary to temporarily change the mode of the image pickup apparatus from a photo-taking mode to a reproduction mode and to confirm the picked-up image with the image pickup apparatus set in the reproduction mode.